CCHS boys basketball Miller wins 500th game with 55-37 topping of Charleston

Carbondale boys basketball coach Jim Miller has been coaching teanagers for 30 years - 21 of them at Carbondale. He's won an amazing 500 games.

That 500th win came in snowy Metropolis last Saturday with a 55-37 drubbing of sixth-seeded Charleston, Mo.

The Terriers looked like anything but champs in the first quarter of the contest, played as a gnarly blizzard blew outside of the gym during the finals of the Superman Classic. Carbondale trailed Charleston 11-7 after one quarter of play.

But the real storm came from the Terriers, who in the middle two periods outscored Charleston 37-15 to put the seal on the win.

"I kind of out-coached myself in the first quarter," Miller said after the win. "We finally started keeping their athletes in front of us and creating turnovers. That's when we took off."

Part of the Terriers' problem, as it has been intermittently throughout the season, was that they missed layups because of a lack of physicality.

"We finally decided to finish plays through contact," Miller said. "But really, we played outstandingly during most of the tournament."

That's true. At a tournament in which sixth-seeded Charleston beat top-seeded McCracken County, Ky. 50-44 in their quarterfinals, Carbondale was the only top seed (second seed) to play well all three of their games.

The Terriers beat Vienna Jan. 14 and then beat a feisty Goreville team 52-37. The score looks similar to the 55-37 one in the championship win because that 37 explains the heart of what makes the Terriers a formidable team: their defense.

The Terriers allow foes less than 40 points per game. The game against Goreville was a reflection of the game against Charleston and 15 other wins this season. (Carbondale is 17-3 for the year.)

The Terriers led by only one point (10-9) after eight minutes of play against the Goreville. But, again the Terriers stretched their lead to nine at the halftime break (24-15) and ran the differential up from there.

After the Charleston game, Miller talked about his career at Carbondale. He said he was fortunate to get the job in 1997.

"Carbondale is a basketball mecca," said Miller. "I was thrilled to get the job 21 years ago."

And what does it mean to have won 500 games and be in the Illinois Coaches' Hall of Fame?

"It means I'm old," Miller joked when asked.

Miller will take that experience into the the Centralia Orphans' gym tonight to try to avenge a 12-point loss (59-47) to the Orphans last November at Bowen Gym. On Saturday, the Terriers hop on a bus to travel to Pinckneyville to play the host school in their shootout at 7 p.m. Both of this weekend's games will be carried on 91.1 FM.